蘋果瀏覽器開發的秘密往事
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????工程師唐?米爾頓曾在蘋果公司（Apple）負責牽頭開發網絡瀏覽器Safari。2003年1月，蘋果首次推出全新的現代瀏覽器Safari。此前，蘋果曾和各家瀏覽器開發商有過非常復雜的業務往來，包括曾與微軟公司（Microsoft）簽訂五年合作協議，并曾不止一次嘗試推出自己的瀏覽器。（還記得蘋果1996年推出的Cyberdog嗎？） ????當時喬布斯指出，蘋果之所以要擁有自己的瀏覽器，主要出于兩個原因：第一，追求更快的瀏覽速度；第二，激發創新。時至今日，Safari已成為蘋果公司舉足輕重的戰略資產。在臺式機市場，Safari的使用率遠遠落后于Explorer、Chrome和Firefox（據StatCounter.com稱，IE和Chrome兩者的市場占有率合計高達66%，而Safari則剛過7%）。但是，取決于不同的統計方法，Safari要么是最受歡迎的移動瀏覽器，要么僅次于谷歌安卓（Android）的Chrome，排名第二。鑒于移動瀏覽市場正在爆炸式增長而且增長勢頭將持續，Safari已成為蘋果最重要的產品之一。 ????現在，米爾頓寫了一篇有趣的文章，專門談了當時開發Safari涉及到的保密問題。這篇文章詳細講述了蘋果是如何為新產品保密的（參見《財富》雜志（Fortune）專文“蘋果的秘密”）。蘋果所采用的防止信息外泄的內控措施是一回事，但工程師有時候發現，自己戴上的技術和管理的緊箍咒代表了更高層面的控制。比如： ????我不僅從斯科特?福斯特那里接到命令，要開發一款瀏覽器并為之打造一支團隊，我還得為這整個項目保守秘密。當我試圖組建一支最具創造力的團隊時，這種要求讓招聘工作變得格外復雜，因為我沒法告訴應聘的人他們將研發什么產品，只有等到他們被錄用后才能告訴他們真相。 ????閱讀全文請訪問唐的博客。 ????譯者：清遠 |
????Don Melton is an engineer who, while at Apple, was responsible for spearheading the development of the company's Safari web browser. Safari was introduced as an all-new, modern navigator in January 2003. Up to then, Cupertino had had a convoluted set of relationships with different browser makers, including a five-year agreement with Microsoft, and had tried to roll its own more than once. (Remember Cyberdog?) ????At the time, Jobs pointed to two reasons Apple (AAPL) wanted its own browser: faster browsing and to kickstart innovation. Today, Safari is a major strategic asset for the company. On the desktop, Safari usage lags far behind Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. (It has just over 7% market share compared to IE and Chrome's combined 66%, according to StatCounter.com.) But, depending on how you count, Safari is either the most popular mobile browser or just behind Google's (GOOG) Chrome for Android. Mobile browsing is exploding and set to keep growing, making Safari one of Apple's most important products. ????Now Melton has written a fascinating account of the secrecy that went into developing Safari in the first place. How far Apple will go to keep new products a secret is well documented. (See Fortune's The secrets Apple keeps.) The internal measures it takes to keep information from getting out are one thing. But the technical and managerial hoops engineers sometimes find themselves jumping through are next level. For instance: ????Not only was I tasked by Scott Forstall with building a browser and building a team to build that browser, I had to keep the whole damn project a secret. Which, by the way, really complicated the shit out of hiring most of the original team since I couldn't tell them what they were working on until they took the job. ????Check out the rest of the story on Don's blog. |
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